Battle of the Bougainvillea

Like so many of my escapades, it all started quite innocently. I went to collect the mail and noticed that the bougainvillea was again impeding access to the mail box.  Out of the respect for the postie (mailman for you yanks), I decided to grab the shears and give it a bit of a trim.

After only a few snips, I realized that the bougainvillea had reached up its gnarly tentacles and was attempting to take over a nearby tree so I went back to the shed for the loppers and it spiralled out of control from there. 

I gave the bougainvillea covered front fence a good haircut then turned my attention to the evil duo that guarded my front entry.  I really don’t mind the front fence being booby trapped by blood thirsty vines.  I have peace of mind knowing that none of the local hoodlums aren't ambitious enough to take on the vines in order to gain access and the little hoodlum that lives in my house can’t even see out through the stuff even if he did know how to scale a fence.

The ugly wall that had been covered by the blood thirsty bougainvillea.

In addition to the front fence being covered by bougainvillea, there are two guarding the very ugly wall near my front door.  When we moved into the house in November of 2010, the shrub of Satan had reached above the house and attached itself to the AC unit and electrical lead coming to the house.  It was drastically cut back at that point and gets a tidy up about every other month just to provide safe access to the front door and my nearby roses. 

The second time it drew blood sent me back to the shed for a bow saw and the fight was on!

I will admit to enjoying the vivid and long lasting blooms of the bougainvillea, but I’ll lay money that the devil himself having dreamed up this horticultural nightmare.  The thorns are needle sharp and nearly a half inch long. Trimming it only seems to encourage new growth and it has the ability to send up new shoots of over a foot in a matter of a couple of weeks.

By the time it was over I was bleeding in five places, but the Beelzebub bush had been cut to the ground.  I know it will be back, I’m guessing that I have at least of few months of respite before I get clawed in the backside while watering my roses.

I got the last laugh!